Random conversations

     I've never really felt like a people person: I'm definitely an introvert, I don't enjoy being in crowds, I'm a very private person, and I hate small talk. Yet somehow, people always end up talking to me - people I don't know at all. I even had this happen the first time I was in Russia and could barely speak the language. Curiously enough, several of those encounters ended well because I'm really good at expressing things without words and I always had a map on me, so at the very least, if I heard "where" and a questioning tone, I could say "I'm sorry, I don't speak Russian well," while holding out the map. The one where a guy handed me a rose and started declaiming poetry, however, did not go so smoothly. 

     On the whole, though, in English-speaking countries, I think people just talk to me because I try to be polite and honest, and I keep my eyes up and aware of my surroundings. People will catch my eye in a store line and start commiserating about the wait. I reply politely, so they keep going. Pre-pandemic, I even had someone connect with me on a class webconference: she decided I looked interesting and started sending me snarky comments on a private chat, trying to make me laugh while the professor was talking (we are still friends to this day). Another time, I tried out a surfing camp, and someone started telling me how horrible the camping conditions were. She seemed like a nice person, so I mentioned I had an extra bed in my hotel room she was welcome to share. Twelve years later, we still write each other several times a year. 

Taboo cosplay: Gloves and almost done!

     There are only three items left for Taboo at this point: pants, a tail, and something for her hands. I did some research on making claws for costume, and it looked like the easiest way to do so was to add them to gloves. I got a pair of fingerless gloves and sketched out some claw options, but when I went to trial it, they were very cumbersome, and having pink fingers show through when the rest of me - literally head to toe except face - is covered just looked dumb. 

     Found another site that suggested sewing Worbla bits onto cloth gloves, and the results looked decent, so I figured I'd give that a try. Got some inexpensive gloves from overseas, but they were... not well fitted. So first step, fixing that. 

Backlash cosplay: Shoes

     The gentleman's Backlash cosplay is coming along nicely. He's got the mask made, a wig bought, the pants and knife are made, and all the harness bits made by a leatherworker. What to wear for shoes, though? Superhero shoes never look like actual shoes (unless they're heavy boot-style heros), so shoes are a bit open to interpretation, unless you feel like handsewing spandex over regular shoes. Which I. Absolutely. Do. Not. 

     The gentleman found some sneakers he'd be willing to wear in a color that mostly matched the other pieces. How to make them match the pattern that is clearly continued down to the feet on the character though? I poked around, and found that acrylic painting leather sneakers is actually super common, so this might be easier than I thought. Taped the shoes off, loaded my airbrush with acrylic paint, and went to town. Easy, right? 

     No, of course it's not going to be easy, silly. Acrylic paint is water-based, so it soaked right in to the fabric parts. They should be hidden under the pants, mostly, so I'm not super worried about them (although I did give them a couple more coats after this picture was taken). The tape wasn't really sticking very well to the shoe, though, so nice, clean lines just.... didn't happen. With some work, I found that by gently pushing with dental tools - which are very useful for lots of cosplay crafts - you could coax the extra creepers back into line fairly decently. The shoe on the right has been cleaned up, the shoe on the left has not. It makes a lot of difference.

     Found an acrylic sealer that is supposedly really good for faux leather shoes and put a couple coats of that on after hitting up the fabric areas a bit more. 

     Looks good, right? Unfortunately, I did this before the gentleman broke in the shoes. That bend line that goes across the base of the toes? Yeah.... buggered up my nice paint job a bit. Fortunately, everything else looks ok, so I've requested that he just wear the shoes around the house a lot more, and then I'll do a final overcoat to fill in the wrinkles. He hasn't done that just yet, but I'm counting these done. I did not track time on these, but they were less than 10 hours, all told. 

     The only things left are two red gems for the harness and belt (which a friend of a friend is working on, as I don't have casting supplies and don't really want to get into that), and making an undermask/ headsock to attach the wig and the face mask to. You can order spandex facemasks, but they all have a really loose neck to accommodate sliding the head through, and it gives a really bad turkeyneck look. I found a pattern that lets you make that more fitted and add velcro in the back, so I will give that a try once we have all the materials.  

Backlash cosplay: Pants

     The gentleman decided to do a military-style take on his cosplay for Backlash, since he's not super keen on the idea of spandex. I certainly can't blame him, I didn't want to do it for his partner, Taboo, either.

     Since the gentleman wears BDU pants for work anyway, he ordered a pair in dark blue as a base to start from. They were a little light, so I dyed them darker, then took off the cargo pockets, so I could add the white stripes. This is where I very much appreciate heavy fabric in general, and ripstop in particular - once you get a seam partly unraveled, you can just rip the two pieces apart, knowing the seam will go and not the fabric itself. 

     It took some doing to find white ripstop material, since most people want ripstop for tough wearing, which is not really synonymous with situations where white would be useful. I did eventually find a reputable website that had it though, and ordered the 2 yard minimum. Turns out it's good I overordered, because one layer of it against the dark blue looked kind of dingy. Two layers, though, looked pretty decent, so I cut out basic shapes to the gentleman's dimensions and sewed them on.

Backlash cosplay: Dagger

     After seeing me work on Thor, the gentleman decided he wanted to build a cosplay as well, albeit in a slightly different manner. I like looking at things and then seeing how I can make them. The gentleman does not believe he has crafting skills, but he can network like crazy, so he recruited various crafters he knows to do the different parts. Naturally, he came to me for the outfit/ sewing parts, but that's a different post. Rather than have a real dagger made (which would cost goodness knows how much), he asked if I had any ideas. Here's a reference picture:

     I have not yet had much experience making weaponry, but some google searching led me to the idea of making the blade out of a lightweight wood, then building up the handle and guard around it. First things first, though: come up with a pattern so I know what size wood to get. Drew up some sketches, got approval, and cut a rough draft out of an eva foam mat that was too chewed up to use for actual cosplay.